


One Shot!

by holdmymilktea



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Drinking Games, F/F, loonacatcher even if you don't squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:46:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29361240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holdmymilktea/pseuds/holdmymilktea
Summary: Haseul being a very dramatic drunk over that pretty blonde seated in front of her during the strawberry game.
Relationships: Jo Haseul/Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul
Kudos: 21





	One Shot!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I wrote most of this being slightly drunk myself a year ago and finally managed to make it into something. Don't expect too much!
> 
> This is inspired by Jinsol being a slow talker and a Korean drinking game. You can watch the rules [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi8nTghlUWs), but it's not that relevant for the story.
> 
> Happy lunar new year :D

Alcohol games were always a good way to meet people, somehow. There were tons of other, probably more sober ways, but it was still a good one for this purpose. It wasn’t so much because the alcohol numbed the attendees’ inhibitions to a ridiculously low level, but more because you didn’t have to know each other to participate, and also didn’t need to actually make conversation during these. And if you wanted to talk, you had something to talk about. Okay, you didn’t really need to be drunk to play games, but come on, to each their own ways of spending a good time.

And well, it was uni, a random get-together, orientation-induced gathering with the seniors to be more precise and Haseul did like drinking socially in addition to being mildly eager to meet people, so she silently took a shot even if she didn’t lose, then immediately poured soju in her glass again, just in case. Seeing the glass filled to the rim brought her a sense of satisfaction that still left her expecting the moment she would have to down it in one gulp again.

The light buzz she felt in her head was pleasant and it made all the shouting much more bearable. Half the fun of the games were the songs that preceded and followed said games, after all.

The other half was obviously the mess.

Across her on the left, there was this small senior shouting, gripping the tall freshman next to her by the collar and shaking her for god knew why. Not out of violence, she didn’t think so – the time span required to hate someone’s gut couldn’t be that short – but, see. All the table was looking at them because of this unexpected banter. Friendships were already being built. How heartwarming. Actually, it was more along the lines of the freshman being ‘ _an ungrateful brat_ ’ but no doubt the interaction caused by their inebriated state was the start of something great.

Scanning around her, Haseul frowned. There was something up with the people at the table that night, actually. Apart from the shouting senior that looked about the same height as her, every single person in immediate vicinity seemed extremely tall. There was that tall freshman she mentioned before who looked like a carefree puppy being shook relentlessly and laughing it out, and on both her side, another freshman with short hair, who had that deadly gaze yet spoke quite shyly, Yves, on her right and on her left, this easy-going senior with warm eyes, Minji, who still somehow managed to hold the group together despite the chaos. Or maybe she was also part of the source of that chaos, she wasn’t too sure. All friendly, no problem there.

But yeah, there was just this tiny detail.

They were all SO tall.

Huh, curious.

How she even noticed, she had no idea.

Maybe she should take another shot, just so she didn’t care too much.

Bless whoever who had poured her peach soju.

It kinda worked, honestly.

So yes, that evening was fun, they were playing those fun shouty nonsense games. She was still very alright. First round called her to be, if she wanted the evening to keep going and if she wanted to make it to the next pub.

But visibly, there was someone who had more trouble holding their liquor.

The girl sitting in front of her, for instance.

She was very tall too – she wasn’t really surprised or annoyed at that point, there was just no middle ground with these people – with long blond hair falling on her shoulders quite perfectly, had a small face with gentle features. That wasn’t what had caught her attention at first, though.

Okay, maybe a little, she would concede.

Jinsun? Jinsoo? Something like that; she hadn’t heard properly when her friend had called her while giving her what was probably supposed to be a playful shove to the side.

The shove came from a different source of playful violence from earlier, she needed to specify. This time it was a light-brown haired girl that looked like a teddy bear. That night, it always seemed to come from the less height-gifted people.

Huh, there was a problem here.

If non-controlled strength was inversely proportional to size, then Haseul should also move mountains with the slap of a hand.

But that wasn’t the case.

Wrong thought, very wrong.

She was the epitome of kindness, hell yeah.

That kind of reasoning couldn’t work.

Focus back on the pretty girl, that would be for the best.

It wasn’t the striking hair color that had caught her attention, nor the flush that dusted her cheeks an adorable shade of pink, no. Well, yeah, but really, also something even more unexpected.

She had already noticed the slower speech the blonde girl spoke with at the beginning of the gathering, but as soju glasses were emptied, it was now worryingly slow. And the strawberry game being based on speed and movement coordination, the poor girl kept taking shots after shots. She was still smiling though, a very charming smile at that and Haseul found herself drawn in it, even more than the bits of conversations she randomly managed with Yves.

Or maybe it was her own slowed down drunk self imagining all of-

“I LIKE STRAWBERRIES! LIKE IT! LIKE IT! LIKE IT! LIKE IT! LIKE IT!”

The starting chant resonated again across the room, but she was too focused observing the girl to sing along. She didn't have much problem when it was her turn. Counting to one strawberry was still very manageable; she wasn’t that drunk yet. Said every drunk people ever, but whatever.

Quickly enough it was Tall Blonde's turn again. Somehow it felt more accurate to refer to her like this instead of what she could have misheard in-between shouts. The girl had to count to four strawberries, and as much as Haseul wanted to root for her, she had to take into account the girl had yet to complete a sequence properly.

Honestly, it seemed like a lost battle already.

Still, Haseul summoned her success mentally.

Tall Blonde took a second before starting, a sheepish drunken smile drawn on her flushed face. Haseul unconsciously smiled seeing that.

One clap, on the thighs.

"Strawberry."

She had the starting count right.

Another clap, hands together.

"Strawberry."

Her hands separated, her right one moving further in a thumbs up fashion, only with her palm facing the ceiling.

"Strawberry."

Only one left, maybe she could actually make it, Haseul thought. She was getting strangely invested in what was unfolding in front of her, now sincerely rooting for the girl. She could do it, just-

They locked eyes.

So, fun fact, the blonde girl also had beautiful eyes.

"Str-"

And then the girl freezed.

Oh, how awkward.

Haseul did like every nanosecond of it, though. She wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.

"Uh… what's next?" Tall Blonde said, rubbing the back of her neck, embarrassed, when everyone let out their disappointment because apparently, Haseul wasn't the only one hoping for her success. The sight was beyond endearing, almost emotional.

"ONE SHOT!"

The table started chanting again, hyping up the girl to complete her penalty, then erupted in cheers when she put back the glass on the table, empty of course, before starting chanting the start of another round almost as immediately. The girl winced a bit when she swallowed, but she started off the game as if nothing had happened. She did look slightly dazed afterwards. Thankfully, the players seemed to spare her for the time being, pointing fingers in all directions that Haseul had a hard time following the pace, earning her a couple shots as well.

Voices were getting louder, speed seemed to have increased as accuracy moved the opposite direction and Haseul was still very much distracted by Tall Blonde, which the later didn't seem to notice, too busy trying to keep up with the game and sneaking in some comments to her seatmates of which she could only hear fragments when she raised her voice to be heard, with a seemingly even slower speech than before. Was Haseul grateful for not being noticed? Yes and no. She didn't want to look like a creep for one but at the same time, there was something strangely demotivating that there should be so much distance between them when they were just really sitting across each other. On the flip side, she was getting concerned over her speech, it was really... slow.

Tall Blonde lost again at some point. She accepted her penalty without complaining. Although, as soon as everyone looked away though, she pouted, looked at the empty glass in front of her, then at the soju bottle closest to her, back and forth. On the other side of the table, Haseul, partly because she wanted to stop her heart from clenching annoyingly, couldn’t stay indifferent to her dilemma and took action. She reached for the untouched pitcher in the middle of the table and did the unthinkable.

She poured water in Tall Blonde’s glass, pointed at the green bottle and made an ‘ _ok_ ’ sign with her hand.

Which was completely lame if you asked her.

“Thank you,” Haseul imagined was what Tall Blonde mouthed when she shyly inclined her head forward. It was enough to now send her stomach doing somersault tricks.

She raised her hand to rearrange her hair and perhaps at the same time hide some of her embarrassment, only to remember that she had cut her hair above her shoulders less than a week ago and thus, there was nothing to rearrange. Her hand stopped awkwardly above her shoulder, just like that. Probably Haseul wouldn’t stop being lame that night, so she just made it like she intended to rub her nape.

Tall Blonde chuckled seeing that, and had the audacity to smile even more charmingly than earlier. As for Haseul, her heart was about to quit for the evening. She pressed her lips into a thin line and looked down. If her own cheeks weren’t already flushed because of the alcohol they most definitely would now. At this point, she shouldn’t care anymore. At least, making a fool out of herself had made Tall Blonde react to her existence, in a maybe not so negative way.

And it seemed like her mind thought so as well. By the time the next game round was completed – around fifty seconds later – Haseul had already envisioned a complete future with the blonde by her side. From library dates and intense hand-holding in the park to moving in together and adopting a dog – a cute Maltese they would buy a stroller for – with a brief freeze-frame on graduation and some other bolder-but-lovely-nonetheless moments. In other words, a foolproof life plan that only faced one obstacle at the moment.

Establishing proper contact.

And by contact, Haseul meant not just with a mortifyingly awkward gaze or pouring water shots, no. Contact, as in a rightful exchange composed of words put together to form sentences, which, if followed correctly by both parties, would then emerge as a conversation. It would be casual, light at first, but would soon turn into meaningful, sometimes heated debates about the meaning of life on the phone as night went a deeper shade of blue. They wouldn’t agree on everything, but it wouldn’t matter because they would still be there for each other and all the cheesy stuff she would never imagine herself saying but would eventually, because it was her.

Gosh.

She wanted to slap some sense into herself.

It was around that moment that Haseul became willing to admit that she was, in fact, very intoxicated, in more ways than one. Because there was no way she wouldn’t find a problem with betting her plan on her engaging conversation with someone she was attracted to while sober. Oh, she probably wouldn’t admit she was attracted to them, even. There was no way of that happening. She might not even have dared pouring water.

And she definitely wouldn't be that dramatic.

She swore.

The game stopped after some more rounds, chatter immediately filling the table instead of the cheering songs. Tall Blonde did make use of that water shot, making Haseul glad that she could do at least do that small thing for her.

The question remained, however. How to establish contact?

On her left, Minji must have mistaken her alcohol-induced-plan-making daze seemingly directed to the bantering Tom and Jerry duo as profound interest, when it was actually that she couldn’t look anymore at Tall Blonde and had to divert her eyes. She brought her closer to her by the shoulder and started explaining very seriously how her senior friend rarely gets along so well with someone right off the bat and would start placing bets very soon. Haseul smartly replied that she was drunk because the two were now on the verge of throwing fists. Minji laughed, briefly, before a grin appeared on her face.

“I am. Though not enough for you to be pouring me _water_ , kid,” the senior states.

“Yeah? Never hurts to help with the alcohol, you know? Dehydration is real,” Haseul tried, sensing danger from the sweet tone Minji had adopted.

“Oh, you’re not getting out of this one.”

Minji’s hold tightened ever so slightly. It was still irrational to call it threatening but enough that Haseul actually gulped.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Maybe if she played it cool she could avoid the nagging. Cool and composed, the best course of action.

“I have eyes, you know.”

Cool and composed.

“Is that so,” Haseul finished by chuckling nervously. She grabbed her glass to drink and thus pursue her playing it cool agenda, could already taste the comforting bittersweetness when Minji cut to the chase.

“That girl in front of you. Jinsol.”

As she nearly choked hearing the name, Haseul knew that she had failed miserably.

Again.

**Author's Note:**

> PS: Drink water too when you drink alcohol, it's not lame, it's what your body needs!


End file.
